Vestibuled railroad oar



' 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

A. G. LEONARD.

VESTIBULED RAILROAD OAR. I No. 414,228. Patented Nov. 5, 1889.

IN VENT 01? ATTORNEY WITNESSES (No Model.) 3 SheetsSheet 2. A. G. LEONARD.

VESTIBULBD RAILROAD GAR.

Patented Nov. 5, 1889.

INVENTOR V ATTORNEY WITNESSES 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

(No Model.)

A. G. LEONARD. VESTIBULED RAILROAD GAR. No. 414,228. Patented Nov. 5. 1889.

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ATTORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR G. LEONARD, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

VESTIBULED RAILROAD-CAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No..414,228, dated November 5, 1889.

' Application filed July 8, 1889. Serial No. 316,889- (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR G. LEONARD, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city, county, and State of New York, have made anew and useful Improvement in Vestibuled Railroad-Cars, of which the following is a specification, which, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a sufficient description to enable others to practice my invention.

vestibules at the ends of cars have long been used to enable passengers to pass from car to car without danger of falling from the platforms. Such vestibules have also been provided with buffers which act between the superstructures of the cars, above the platforms, as well as acting on the level of the platforms, and which, besides acting as buffers to check shocks and avoid oscillation, also serve to distend and support the bellows which closes the space between the ends of two adjacent vestibules.

My invention relates to the closing of the space between two abutting vestibules, while at the same time no buffer to prevent shocks and oscillation is located above the platform of the car.

My invention includes arched plates carried by radial links pivoted to the end of each vestibule and to the arched plates, being so constructed and combined with the vestibule that the arched plates of any two cars when coupled will remain in contact by gravity, even when the cars are moved apart by reason of the compression of the draw-bar springs in running or in starting the train. Thus these arched plates are adapted to carry one end of the bellows belonging to each car, and thus the intervening space between the vestibules can be kept closed, although the ends of any two adjacent cars are, in running or starting, continually moved to or from each other.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows aperspective view of part of a car, the vestibule, and arched plate, with its link. Fig. 2shows the side View of the ends of two coupled cars having my invention applied. Fig. 3 is an end view of a single car embody ing my invention. Fig. 4 is a horizontal section of Fig. 3, looking downward on the carplatform; and Figs. 5, 6, 7, and S are details which will be referred to in the description.

In the various figures, A represents the cars, and 13 represents the vestibules, with the side doors in them, which give access to the carsteps from the platform. Each vestibule is preferably provided with a fiXed plate b, firmly attached thereto and constituting the ends of the vestibules proper. The plates 1) are provided with pivots (Z d d d, which carry one end of the links 6. The other end of these links e are pivoted, as shown, to the arched plate 0. The pivots which connect the links to the arched plate 0 are higher than the pivots d. Thus when the plate 0 is pressed toward the car it moves backward and rises, finally assuming the extreme inward position shown in Fig. 6. When the pressure is removed the plate 0 can fall forward and downward until it reaches the position shown in Fig. 5, when the stops 6' prevent its further downward and outward movement. It will now be seen that if two cars are coupled the outer faces of the abutting plates 0 C will be in contact, and the plates and radial links will occupy a position between the two extremes of motion, which are represented in Figs. 5 and 6. \Vhen the cars are moved over the road, and the vestibules are caused to approach, the plates C G will be moved back to- 8o ward the ends of the vestibules and allow for the movement of the cars. On the other hand, if in running the cars separate slightly, the plates 0 C will by gravity each fall forward and downward and tend to assume the position shown in Fig. 5; but with either of the motions the abutting faces of the plates 0 C will remain in contact. The swaying motion of the cars will merely cause the abutting faces of the plates 0 C to slide on one another; but such sliding will not check the oscillation of the train. as the plates are not in forcible contact and do not operate as buffers to any appreciable extent. The faces of the plates 0 0 should be of a sufficient width to allow of their working on each other without slipping past one another.

In Figs. 2 and 4 the closingbellows is shown at D. This bellows, made of cloth or other suitable material, is attached at one I00 end to the arched plate 0, and at its opposite end it may be attached at or near the end plate I), if that plate is used, as shown in Fig.

4., or at a point (not shown) within the vestibule B. The object of the bellows is to form a yielding closing structure between the arched plate 0 and the end of the vestibule at the sides and'top, the space to be closed being shown open in Fig. l and as closed in Figs. 2 and 4.

Between the downwardly-extending sides of the arched plate 0, I locate the buffer E, which merely fills the space more or less be tween the downwardly-extending portions of the arched plate 0, and which is preferably provided with an upper rearwardly-extend ing plate in, adapting it to slide over the floor of the extreme end of the vestibule, which in turn may be prevented from doing injury to passengers by a rubber mat covering the whole flooring. At Fig. 8 such a buffer is illustrated, and at Fig. 1 it is shown as applied to the car. In Figs. 2, 3, 4, and? the buifer is shown as provided with wings g, which extend behind the inner surfaces of the plate 0, and which wings force forward the plates 0 .C and keep them in forcible spring contact at the bottom. I need not, however, use this modification, but may rely solely on gravity, unaided byany springs, to keep the plates 0 0 together, using the buifers shown in Figs. 1 and S, where the buffers in no way operate on or modify the action of the plates When the cars are uncoupled, no attention need be paid to the plates 0 C, which, when the cars separate, will fall to their lower and outermost position, as shown in Fig. 5, and in which position they will remain until another car having a like arrangement of parts is attached, when the plate 0 will again be forced upward and backward, and the parts will again be brought into operative positions.

It is necessary that the radial arms 6 should always have their outer pivot, or the one that connects them with the plate 0, higher than the pivots which connect them with the vestibule, as at d, and the stops 6 should always be arranged to check the movement of the plate before the pivots of the plate 0 shall fall to the level of the pivots d. It is not my desire by this arrangement to provide means for preventing the cars from oscillating or having sidewise movement by the use of buffers carried above the platform of the car;

the passage-way, but not sufficient to prevent the oscillation of the cars to any appreciable extent. I have shown four radial arms e, but a greater number may be employed.

I have shown and described the buffer-head E as arranged within the downwardly-ere tended sides of the plate (3; but this plate need not extend below the top of the buffer, if desired.

The buffer-heads E should be pivoted where they unite with the shank, so that they can have a slight angular movement in a horizontal plane, and the fitting of the radial arms 6 should be loose enough to allow the arched plate 0 to have also a slight angular movement in a horizontal plane. In this way the parts are adapted for the necessary movements in rounding curves.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of the vestibuled carbody and the arched plate, with the radial arms, as shown, adapted to permit movement of the plate and allow it by gravity to keep in contact with an opposing plate, substantially as described.

2. The combination of the inclosing-bellows, the movable arched plate, the radial arms, and the buffer-head arranged within the opening of the arched plate, substantially as described.

3. The combination of the vestibule, the arched plate, and the radial arms having the points of attachment on the arched plate higher than-the points of attachment to the vestibule, substantially as described.

4. The combination of the arched plate, the arms having their points of attachment on the arched plate higher than their pivotal points on the vestibule, and stops to prevent the said arms falling below a horizontal line, substantially as described.

5. The combination of thearched plate, the radial arms, and the buffers having the lateral wings g, adapted to force the plate 0 forward and downward, substantially as described.

6. The combination of a buffer, the arched plate, and the radial arms, the said bufferspring being adapted to throw forward the arched plate, substantially as described.

7. The combination of a vestibuled car with an arched plate, as 0, carried by radial pivoted arms and adapted to be moved downward and outward by gravity, substantially as described.

ARTHUR e. LEONARD.

\Vitnesses:

S. RTAYLoR, THOS. S. WINsLow. 

